Animal rescuers face endless battle to save homeless pets

Last week, I got an email from my neighbor Trudy, who lives at the other end of the two-mile stretch of road where Stroup and I walk Ruffins and Rosy every morning. She and Alan walk their dogs on it, too, and we often meet up with them.

Matt TouchardMatt Touchard holding original Polaroids he took of the collies he rescued in 1998.

Trudy wanted to tell me that during their walk that day they had discovered two tiny kittens clinging together at the side of the road.

"I looked around, hoping to find you. Where were you?!" she wrote.

We have shared a few animal adventures along our road, and she was wishing Stroup and I had been there to share this one, which lasted three hours and involved squalling babies, a cage, a Fancy Feast bribe, a chase, numerous scratches and a trip to a local veterinary hospital, where the two kittens were put on display in the waiting room, in hopes someone would take them home for Christmas.

The happy part of this story is that Trudy and Alan did what they had to do to save two helpless kittens. The infuriating part is that someone tossed them on the side of the road like a couple of empty beer cans.

I hear this kind of animal-rescue story often, sometimes several times in a week.

Matt Touchard, who has a special love for herding dogs, told me a Christmas story that broke my heart:

It happened in 1998, when he had become involved with animal rescue in St. Charles Parish.

"Before I started, I was naive to the idea that people could just misuse, abuse and treat animals the way some people do," he said.

That Christmas morning, he had gone to the parish shelter in Luling. He was a regular volunteer there and figured most of the staff would be off or coming in late. And he had brought toys and other treats for the animals who would spend the holidays there.

It was raining, and when he got near the front gate, he saw two dark shapes. At first he thought someone had left out garbage bags by the gate. But then he saw them move.

"It was two large collies, like Lassie, tied there," he said.

It was a cold gray morning and their matted hair was stuck to them. They were thin and wet and shivering.

"They looked like they had lost all zest for life," he said. "My heart was racing. I was feeling both sadness and fury."

When he took them inside, he opened the note that had been attached to them, still dry inside a Ziploc bag.

"It said, 'This is Lacey, 7, and Dusty, 6, sister and brother. We can't keep them anymore because we got our daughter a puppy for Christmas,'" Matt said, getting angry all over again as he told me the story.

It took months to rehabilitate the two collies. Eventually, they regained their zest for life and, with Matt's help, found a loving home. But I worry about the puppy who replaced them.

"What kind of people would go, under cover of darkness, and abandon their dogs on Christmas Eve?" Matt asked.

Local animal rescuers face a never-ending, heartrending battle, and I hope that anyone considering getting a puppy or a kitten or a dog or a cat for Christmas, or anytime else for that matter, will go shopping at a local shelter or rescue group. All of them are overwhelmed and in need of permanent homes for beautiful, adoptable dogs and cats, as well as foster homes, money and volunteers.

Melanie Manning, a special education teacher in Jefferson Parish by day and a tireless animal rescuer on nights and weekends, works with many of the shelters and rescue groups. She is forever sending out desperate-sounding emails. The subject area will say something like "Chow-chow (with a golden personality) at St. John." Or "Urgent. Horses need help!" Or "Moss -- Awesome young black Lab searching for home."

Usually, her emails have soulful photos attached. Sometimes, I can't bear to open them.

Jacob Stroman, Jefferson Parish SPCA program director, calls Melanie "a superstar, a hero, an angel." He told me he couldn't do without her.

Melanie likes to say, "It takes a village to save an animal." Her village is made up of other animal rescuers, local veterinarians who offer special rates for rescued animals, and pet lovers who work to reunite lost pets with their owners. It's people who donate their money, volunteer their time, and foster dogs, cats, horses, rabbits and other of God's creatures until they find a forever home.

I want to thank Trudy and Alan, Matt and Melanie. And I want to say thanks to anyone who has ever picked up kittens in a fast-food parking lot or caught a dog they found wandering on a busy highway. And thanks to the people who carry leashes in their cars "just in case" and who open their door when a puppy follows them home.

Melanie's village is everywhere. It's all of us working together, against the odds.

Sheila Stroup's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in Living. Contact her at sstroup@timespicayune.com or 985.898.4831.